Beyond Love and Gore
by armless-phelan
Summary: Seven and a half years after Raccoon City, two old friends meet for coffee. Slightly unusual pairing. One shot. Femslash.


**Beyond Love and Gore**

A/N: This isn't your typical C/J love story. I know someone else has probably already done it, but I wanted to try an alternative approach to the characters. (There won't be any zombies, so gore fans will have to look elsewhere. Sorry!)

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Claire Redfield had changed a lot since she had last seen Leon Kennedy. Her hair was shorter and dyed red, and she had dropped out of college. Chris had given her hell for it, even invoked the memory of their dead parents, but she didn't care. College just hadn't been for her. After Raccoon, her grades had gone into the toilet and she didn't want to waste money on another semester.

It had been seven and a half years since she'd gotten out of the zombie-infested city and started her new life. Sherry had gone to live with her grandparents; Chris was jet setting across the globe in search of Wesker, and Jill… Jill was Jill. However, Leon became a hero by saving the daughter of the president. All Claire had to show for her life was a job working in a factory and an apartment in the middle of the crack district of Lako, New Jersey.

"How've you been?" Claire asked Leon as the waiter set their lattes on the table. Claire thanked him and turned back to her companion. They were sitting in _Hot Toddy_, a small Manhattan coffee shop frequented by yuppies and politicians alike. Obviously, it had been Leon's idea to meet there. Throughout the entire drive there, Claire would check her make-up and hair in the rear-view mirror. _Toddy_ was a classy place, and Claire knew that she was anything but.

She watched as Leon took a sip of his drink, a foam moustache sitting on his upper lip. "Things have been great. Nobody has tried to kidnap Ashley, at least."

"Ooh, you're on a first name basis with the First Daughter, very impressive."

Leon laughed at Claire's teasing. They hadn't had much contact after Raccoon, but they still met at least once a year to catch up. Usually they had to work around Leon's schedule and Claire had to make all of the sacrifices, like the gas tank of her 1984 Chevette sitting on empty.

"I'm wonderful, thanks for asking," Claire said with feigned offence.

"Nice to hear. How's the job going?" Leon asked as he took another drink. "That guy, umm… Dave? Yeah, is that jerk still around?"

Claire shook her head, the light catching her hair. She picked up her order and took a deep gulp, burning. "Ow! Why are these things so hot?"

"The place is called _**HOT** Toddy_," Leon pointed out. "Besides, what's a little burn compared to a being chased around a zombie-infested laboratory by a psychotic scientist and her mutated husband?"

"True, true," Claire agreed as she held her tongue out and pressed her napkin to it. An old man and a younger woman who was obviously either his new gold-digging wife or a mistress stared at her until she looked back at them and crossed her eyes They stopped staring immediately, and Claire burst out in laughter.

"I thought you said your boyfriend was meeting a here," Leon said as he glanced at his watch. "I have to be back to the hotel by 5:00."

"Eh, something like that. Don't worry, you'll get to meet the one lucky enough to get me," Claire said with an air of aristocracy, posing for an invisible camera.

"More like insane enough to put up with you," Leon quipped with a smile. Claire threw her bunched up napkin at him and smirked.

"Sorry I'm late," a woman yelled a few minutes later as she stormed into the café, passing by a flustered concierge. "The Kennedy was a total bitch."

"Jill!" Leon said in surprise. They'd only met twice before, the first time during the Senate hearings on Umbrella. The second had been at the disastrous talk show interview with Oprah Winfrey. The survivors had come out looking like a bunch of inept rednecks that had survived by mere luck rather than skill. In fact, Leon had been a huge punch-line for the pundits afterward, he'd mistakenly compared his situation to that of a Holocaust escapee.

"What?" she asked as she pulled a chair from a nearby table, receiving a couple of dirty looks in the process. It was apparent the old man and mistress that had eyeing Claire earlier disapproved of Jill even more. "Is there something on my face?"

Leon shook his head; his long bangs flying into his eyes. "No, it's just that I didn't know you were coming. Is Chris with you?"

"You didn't tell him?" Jill said disappointedly as she turned to Claire. "How could you not tell him?"

"Why do I have to tell him?" Claire shot back. "Why couldn't you?"

"Apparently he thought he was meeting only you here."

"Actually," Leon interrupted, "her boyfriend's meeting us here."

"Boyfriend?" Jill said loudly with a laugh. Claire sank in her chair, her face as red as her hair. "Claire doesn't have a boyfriend!"

"Huh?" Leon said, clearly confused. "What are you talking about? Claire said that she was bringing her special someone."

"Did she now?" Jill said turning to Claire. She grabbed the other woman's hand in her own. "Listen to me carefully, Leon. _I_ am Claire's special someone."

"What?" Leon gasped, his eyes growing wide. "When? Where? How?"

"We met online, believe it or not," Jill answered as Claire sat up. "I know, what are the odds, right? We've been together three years now. I'm surprised she hasn't said anything, _very_ surprised."

"I didn't think it was important," Claire said with a shrug. The couple that had been staring at her throughout her entire conversation with Leon and during Jill's entrance was staring at her again with their mouths open. Claire stared back at them and asked in a bimbo-inspired voice, "haven't you ever seen a lesbian before?"

"Ignore them," Jill said as she smacked the back of Claire's head. "And just what did you mean by 'I didn't think it was important'?"

"Calm down, you know what I meant," Claire said as she rubbed the back of her head. "God, why did you hit me?"

"For the same reason you said I wasn't important," Jill said bitterly. "I swear, when we get home…"

"What, are you going to yell at me some more? A lot of good that will do," Claire said with an eye roll.

Jill shook her head and leaned in to say in a low voice, "no, I have something else, something better, in mind."

"You'd better not be teasing me," Claire said with a wink.

During their little spat, Claire and Jill had completely forgotten about Leon and they suddenly remembered. Jill was the first to speak up:

"Leon, are you okay?"

He had gone pale and didn't seem to be blinking. Claire jumped up and knelt by him. "Tell you what: why don't Jill and I leave, and we talk about this next year?"

Leon nodded and Claire stood up, offering a hand to her partner. Jill took it and followed the redhead out the door, leaving behind a very confused Secret Service agent.


End file.
